Frequent candidate and purported political cult leader Lyndon LaRouche, 81, is back for an eighth Presidential run in 2004. As in the past, expect him to appear on several state primary ballots. LaRouche, a college drop-out and self-described "world's leading economist," weaves a web of conspiracy theories -- cloaked in a swirl of historic truths and mistruths -- usually implicating Queen Elizabeth, British bankers, the Pope and the Jesuits, the Trilateral Commission, drug cartels, environmentalists, Jane Fonda, Ted Kennedy, George Bush, the CIA and FBI, Osama bin Laden, gays, Israel, the Clintons, Margaret Thatcher and many others. He started his career as a Trotskyist political organizer in the Socialist Workers Party in the 1960s, formed the now-defunct and ultra right-wing US Labor Party in the early 1970s after a violent break from the SWP ... before finally shifting his entire neo-fascist network into the Democratic Party by 1979. LaRouche was convicted and imprisoned for five years on felony fraud charges in the late 1980s related to the fundraising activities of his political organization -- although his supporters maintain he was a political prisoner unfairly prosecuted by vindictive federal government agents. LaRouche's old nemesis, the Anti Defamation League (ADL), has published various booklets over the years that identify LaRouche as anti-Semitic. LaRouche strongly denies he is anti-Semitic and notes that numerous Jewish individuals are leaders in his organization. He also strongly denies the "cult" allegations. In 2000, LaRouche captured just 124 votes (11th place) in the New Hampshire Democratic primary -- and blamed his poor showing on a conspiracy led by the New Hampshire Secretary of State. He also competed in numerous other 2000 primaries -- but generally finishing in the 1-4% range in each contest. Although he passed the required 15% needed to win delegates in the late season Arkansas primary (he won 22%), the DNC refused to award LaRouche any delegates because they ruled that he was "not a real Democrat." LaRouche sued the DNC -- but the federal court ruled that the Democratic Party had the legal right to deny awarding any delegates to LaRouche, as he was not an authentic Democratic candidate because of his fringe views. The DNC also notes that LaRouche -- as a convicted felon -- is not a registered Democrat (nor even a registered voter) and is also not eligible under party rules to be the nominee for this reason. For the same reason, party leaders are excluding him from the debates -- even though he qualified for federal matching funds and raised over $5 million as of Fall 2003 (which placed him ahead of Clark, Kucinich, Braun, and Sharpton in the money hunt). However, of that amount, little remains unspent as the money goes to finance his perpetual political network of offices, staffers and publications. He has already qualified for the 2004 NH primary ballot and will likely appear on ballots in several other states.